Canuck buyer backs away from TV Stern

Shock-jock's radio show pulled

TORONTO — Howard Stern is just too racy for Canadian TV. After taking a look at the controversial syndicated shockjock’s new TV program, Toronto-based Chum Ltd., which has bought a year’s worth of exclusive Canadian rights to the TV talkshow, has decided not to schedule it.

Chum executives did not air Stern’s TV program — a collection of excepts from the airing of the previous week’s morning radio show — which debuted on Saturday in the U.S. Management wanted to see the merchandise themselves before putting it on City-TV or any of its other TV stations. “We looked at it Monday and Tuesday and just simply, openly and unanimously decided it doesn’t meet our codes here at the station,” said Jay Switzer, Chum’s vice president of programming. “We felt it was on the wrong side of the line we wanted to draw.” Switzer refused to disclose how much Chum paid for the rights.

In addition, Chum has also pulled Stern’s radio show from its Montreal radio station CHOM-FM, which has been airing it for just under a year. Chum said in a press release that it pulled the show off CHOM because now that Montrealers will be able to receive Stern’s TV show via U.S. border stations, CHOM will no longer be able to effectively censor it. (CHOM has had Stern on a time delay since a ruling earlier this year by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council that Stern contravenes Canadian codes dealing with obscenity, racism and sexism.)

Toronto’s Q-107, which is owned by WIC Western Intl. Communications Ltd., remains the only radio station to air Stern.